NDP caucus set for two-day meeting

NDP Leader Jack Layton, Leader of the Official Opposition is all smiles during a Swearing-in Ceremony with his wife and fellow MP, Olivia Chow at Parliament Hill in Ottawa May 18, 2011. (ANDRE FORGET/QMI AGENCY)

Opposition leader Jack Layton rode a surge of support to a promotion on election night and now his team will splash the orange wave in a bigger and better meeting room on Parliament Hill.

The new NDP caucus - which is 103 MPs strong - will meet face to face for the first time in Centre Block Tuesday and Wednesday.

The famous Railway Room will become the weekly meeting spot for the New Democrat caucus. The new hub is a step up for the party, which used to meet every week in a smaller room in a different building.

When the NDP became the official Opposition on May 2, it booted the Liberals out of the meeting room reserved for the party with that designation.

The Grits will be forced to meet at an obscure location off the Hill for the next four years.

During the two-day meeting, the NDP will figure out how they can best apply pressure to a majority Conservative government. However, Layton has said he is more interested in "proposition than opposition."

The NDP leader is also in the midst of prepping for a real estate upgrade.

A mansion in Ottawa's glitzy Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood is allotted to the leader of the official Opposition. However, Layton says he likely will not move into his new digs until Parliament breaks for the summer.

"I still don't know exactly where it is," Layton said Wednesday. "We have a lot of work to do between now and the end of June and I think moves are probably disruptive."